Fountain-pen filler.



H. N. CARPENTER.

FOUNTAIN PEN FILLER- APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5. 1909.

PatentedSe'pt. 7, 1915.-

\wUi x l 6 J W00 14 ton 3513 awe awe l vi imaoom w 47. 0 m

HAROLD N. CARPENTER, 0F WOODFORD, VERMONT.

FOUNTAIN-PEN FILLER.

inaaeei.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

Application filed November 5, 1909. Serial No. 526,467.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HAROLD N. CARPENTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resi dent of VVoodford, in the county of Bennington and State of Vermont, have mvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fountain-Pen Fillers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device which has the combined functions of serving as a commercial package or container for ink and a convenient means of filling fountain pens without the interposition of a separate filling device, and involving n'o pouring out of the fluid or other handling which would be apt to waste the fluid and soil the fingers of the operator, and my invention consists in certain details of the construction of such a device, having for its object the perfecting of the performance of its above functions, all as will now be described in the following specification and more specifically refererd to in the claims.

In carrying out the invention I provide in a single device a safe receptacle for ink in the form of a commercial package which may be conveniently and safely transported or shipped and sold, which device also embodies as part thereof a means for filling with safety, rapidity and cleanliness the ordinary and widely used fountain pen. This device, according to my invention, comprises the receptacle or container for the ink and a closure therefor, united with said receptacle in the form of a flexible pumping diaphragm. This diaphragm is made preferably of a relatively short substantially semispherical or dome like form, having an aperture situated in its apex, for receiving and making an air tight connection with the pen. This form of closure, with the aperture for the pen situated in its apex, possesses the advantage of providing an eflicient pumping diaphragm which is readily flexible in the axial or longitudinal direction of the pen situated in the aperture, and at the same time providing a relatively wide mouth at the connection of the diaphragm or closure with the ink receptacle proper; thus eliminating the possibility of the pen point being injuredby coming in contact with the lips of the ink receptacle proper in the pumping movement. The form of diaphragm or closure indicated also provides great efiiciency in the pumping action by reason of the'relatively large effective area thus obtained for the pumping diaphragm. It will be understood from the following description that the pen is inserted in the aper feed channel of the pen. On the returnstroke the air within the receptacle will be somewhat rarefied, so that air will pass out from the barrel of the pen into the re-.

ceptacle and ink will flow into the barrel of the pen upon the next compression stroke. The aperture for the pen is so formed with a concentric flange to make an air tight connection of such character that the danger of displacing the pen during the pumping action is avoided. At its connection with the receptacle the closure or dome like diaphragm is provided with an annular flange offset from the neck of the receptacle, which, in combination with the particular form of the diaphragm, favors the collapsing thereof, and at the same time enables the diaphragm to be made unitary with a safe and air tight connection with the ink receptacle.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the device in normal upright position. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the device inverted and in use. Fig. 3 is a top view of the device.

1 is an ink containing receptacle of glass or other suitable material having the wide neck 2 provided with means for securing thereto the sealing and pumping members hereinafter described. Such means may simply be as shown, the screw thread 3 on the exterior surface of the neck.

4 is a closure for the receptacle which is preferably of rubber and also constitutes the diaphragm or pumping member. This member is essentially a diaphragm spanning the wide top of the ink receptacle. and its shape may be varied, so long as the collapsible dome like characteristics are retained, which characteristics adapt the diaphragm to collapse or yield inwardly and so. long as the axial dimension of the closure or diaphragm is relatively short.

Preferably it is of the half globular form shown, so as to give-sufficient capacity and at the same time have the proper vibrating action hereinafter described. The member 4 has an external peripheral flange 5 on its lower edge corresponding in width with the width of the top of the neck 2, to prevent the liability of the pen point striking the lip of the receptacle and becoming injured thereby. The-member 4 is also provided with a downwardly extending lip 6 surrounding and embracing an upwardly extending lip 7 on the inner edge of said neck, so that when the flanged portion of the diaphragm. member 4 is clamped securely in place, a tight seal will be provided incapable of dislodgment in any direction when'the diaphragm is subjected'to the pumping action. To, clamp these partstogether I preferably employ the ring 8 formed preferably of sheet metal having its cylindrical portion screw threaded to engage the screw threaded neck of the ink receptacle, and having the horizontal flanged portion 9 to engage over the rubber flange of the member 4, and so when the ring is screwed tightly in position clamp the diaphragm member 4 by its periphery securelv in position and prevent any possible leakage at this joint or dislodgment or spreading of any part.

The receptacle 1 contains,..as shown, ink and to make the device a convenient package for shipment I interpose between the neck of the ink receptacle and the flange 5' a disk 10 of inkproof material such as parchmentized paper which, when the clamping ring 8 is screwed down, tightly seals the receptacle but at the same time is puncturable by the pen when the pumping action is initiated.

The diaphragm .or pumping member 4 has at the top a neck 11 apertured as shown at 12, the aperture being tapered downward by preference so as to enable a pen to seat closely against it. To exclude dust, a stopper 13 is provided occupying the aperture 12 except when the device is in use for fillinga pen. This stopper has a shoulder 14 and a narrow neck 15 entering the aperture 12, the shoulder seating against the top of said neck to securely seal the package. This stopper is preferably made of some ink resisting material, such as shellac composition, and the neck and lower portion of the stopper are preferably coated with paraffin wax or other ink repellent material to prevent the cementing action of the ink between the stopper and neck. The center of gravity of the stopper is arranged above the shoulder, as by making the head somewhat elongated, so that when the stopper is removed it will tend to lie on its side, keeping the neck 15, which may have ink upon it, away from the desk or paper on which it may be laid. -The neck 15 is made short, only deep enough to firmlyengage in the aperture of the neckfas, if of greater depth, it would have a tendency to crowd any ink remaining in the neck up over the top when the stopper is inserted. r V I Fig. 2 illustrates the device in use for filling a fountain pen 16. The pen is inserted in'the aperture 12 and the device inverted as shown. The pen is then pressed upward or the ink receptacle pressed down toward the pen, which at the first pumping motion perforates the sealing disk 10. The ink covers the openend of the pen and is by an up and down motion of the ink receptacle or pen pumped into the pen, displacing the air therein, which rises into the inverted bottom of the ink receptacle. It will be observed that the ink receptacle, the flexible pumping member and the clamping member form a substantially unitary structure capable of use as a shipping package for the ink, and also of use, without handling of the ink, as a pen filling device.

It will further be observed that bythe means described, of providing the cooperating lip members on the pumping member 4 and the neck of the ink receptacle, not only is a secure seal provided at the joint between these two members, but there is also provided at the same time a positive lock joint which effectually prevents unseating or dislodgment of the flexible pumping member from the neck receptacle when the former is vibrated during the pumping action of filling the pen. The tendency of the vibrating or pumping movement of the pumping member is to pull the flange thereof transversely or horizontally across the mouth of the receptacle. By providing the flange or periphery of this pumping member with a downwardly extending lip 6 and the receptacle with the cooperating upwardly extending lip 7, these two parts cooperate to form an abutment and to positively lock or prevent the shifting or unseating of the pumping member, and at the same time to preserve a secure seal at the joint. It will be seen that any tendency of the flange 5 to pull inward during the pumping action is positively prevented by the downwardly extending lip 6 abutting against the upwardly extending lip 7 andthe neck of the receptacle; and any tendency to outward movement on the part of the flange 5 of the pumping member is prevented by the clampingring 8. By these means there is thus provided not only a perfect seal against the escape of ink under pressure developed in pumping, but there is also provided a lock joint which positively prevents the dislodgment or unseating of the pumping member from the neck of the receptacle, and also the pumping member is securely held in position at its rim or periphery leaving practically its whole flexible area free to maaeoi act as a diaphragm in the pumping movement.

What I claim is: 1. An ink-package and pen-filling device combined in a unitary structure, the same comprising the combination of an ink re ceptacle having a relatively wide mouth,

a flexible diaphragm extending over the mouth of the receptacle and having a penreceiving aperture at the center thereof adapted to make air tight connection with an inserted pen, means for securely uniting said diaphragm by its, periphery air tight to the mouth of said receptacle, said diaphragm formed and united to said receptacle to have a reciprocatory pumping movement transmitted thereto by a reciprocatory longitudinal movement of the inserted pen.

2. An ink-package and pen-fillin device combined in a unitary structure, t e same comprising the combination of an ink receptacle of'rigid material havinga covering thelmouth of said receptacle and having a'centrally situated aperture therein adapted to receive and make air-tight connection with the end of the pen, a periphrelatively wide mouth, a flexible elastic diaphragm tit comprising the combination of an ink receptacle having a relatively wide mouth, a flexible, elastic, substantially semi-spherical diaphragm covering the mouth of said receptacle and having a centrally-situated airtight pen-receiving aperture therein, a peripheral flange on said diaphragm having a shoulder formed thereon, a mating shoulder formed on the mouth of the receptacle, an annular clamping ring having engagement with the receptacle and the peripheral flange of the diaphragm to securely unite the diaphragm, air tight, to the receptacle with the said mating shoulders in interlocking engagement, whereby longitudinal movement of the pen causes a reciprocatory pumping movement of the diaphragm.

4:. An ink package and pen-filling device combined in a unitary structure, the same comprising an ink receptacle having a relatively wide mouth, a destructible sealing disk covering said mouth, a flexible diaphragm extending over said mouth above said sealing disk, said diaphragm being sub- .stantially semi-spherical in form and having a peripheral flange, a pen-receiving aperture at the center of said diaphragm, a clamping ring surrounding the semispherical portion of said diaphragm and engaging the flange thereof and the receptacle, and securely uniting said diaphragm to the receptacle.

HAROLD N. CARPENTER. Witnesses:

' W. S. S'rArroRn, Gno. F. OUT. 

